South African skipper Graeme Smith said up to six teams were in with a shout at the World Cup as he tried to dampen expectations about the new world number one's chances of glory.

As he prepared to fly out to the Caribbean from Johannseburg with the 15-man Proteas squad, Smith said the players had managed to put previous World Cup disappointments behind them and confidence was high after toppling Australia recently from the perch of the one-day rankings.

But he said the top-ranking did not mean that they should automatically be seen as favourites for the tournament.

"We got the number one ranking over a period of time, whereas the World Cup is an event, and anything can happen," he told reporters.

"There are about six countries that could either win it, or prevent us winning it."

South Africa have had a miserable time at previous World Cups. As the host nation in 2003, they were embarrassingly knocked out before the business end of the competition after a mix-up over their target rate in a rain-affected match.

They also lost out to Australia in 1999 after Herschelle Gibbs famously failed to hang on to a catch off Steve Waugh.

Smith said the team had talked about their past failures and were determined to shake off their tag of chokers.

"We have discussed them and put them behind us," he said in comments carried by the SAPA news agency.

"Most of the team were not involved in those disappointments, and we have developed our own character and determination. But it's important to learn from those mistakes and make sure we don't repeat them."

Australia and South Africa have been drawn together in the group stage of the tournament and will meet at St Kitts on March 24 in the most eagerly awaited of the first round games.

Smith said it was important that the team took the tournament one step at a time.

"Our first aim is to get to the semi-finals, and then we'll take it from there," he said in a ceremony where he was presented with the ICC trophy for being the world's number one team.

South Africa earned their status after losing just one of their last 10 internationals against India and Pakistan while Australia lost their last five matches to England and then New Zealand.